MANILA, Philippines – Local businessmen asked yesterday the government to create an advisory council that will help the Philippines negotiate trade deals with other countries.
In a statement, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said that there is a need to institutionalize an Industry-Services-Agriculture-Advisory Council (ISAAC).
Likewise, they said that there is no need to create a Philippine Trade Representative Office (PTRO) because it will only add another bureaucratic layer in the government basically facing the same sets of systemic problems.
Instead, they said that the government must simply appoint a focal person and strengthen the existing agency that will take the lead in all of the country’s trade negotiations.
According to the group, the priority should be to establish a coherent support structure that will manage and make sure that a nationwide consultation process will be institutionalized.
They said the ISAAC type of system will make sure that there is a specific mechanism including pertinent timelines, area coverage and specific parameters for regular consultations from the time requests for free trade agreements are entertained up to their ratification.
“Only with this process of appointing a lead negotiator and instituting an ISAAC mechanism can the various stakeholders be assured of a trade policy regime that is coordinated, cohesive and complimentary – able to pursue the general welfare, create jobs, ensure food security, and rural and industrial development for the country,” the group said.
Earlier, Multisectoral group Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) said the PTRO is needed for economic partnership agreement negotiations.
“It’s about time that the Philippine Trade Representative Office be created. This office will remedy the problem of ad-hocism in trade negotiations, which betrays the sad absence of a clear, cohesive and integrated trade and development strategy that the country is pursuing,” the group said. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio, Philippine Star
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
